by Steve Lenox | May 20, 2014 | Buffalo, In The News, News
Buffalo was a well known destination for a lot of Irish economic immigrants. They came after the Great Famine to work in the steel mills and large factories that were prevalent in the area. Today Buffalo boast a popular Irish feis and most recently is the place where the latest chapter addition to the Irish Network USA. This revitalized network spearheaded by Steve Lenox, Deirdre Woodbyrne and John Murphy is taking the US by storm.
Buffalo is the second most populous city in New York state, Buffalo is an architectural gem. Over 12% of its population claims Irish heritage.
“Buffalo has been a destination for Irish immigrants since the founding of this nation, and we have continued to build the Irish community throughout the region,” said Donall O’Carroll, Irish Network Buffalo President. “With such a proud Irish tradition in Western New York, we are hoping the launch will bring out our existing friends and introduce us to new faces as well.”
Irish Network Buffalo joins Irish Network USA to bolster business opportunities and economic development between the United States and Ireland, to support and encourage Irish Arts and Culture through film, literature, theater, dance, and language; to encourage and promote Irish sports through the States; to support the efforts of local Irish organizations and associations; and to serve as a conduit between newly arrived Irish immigrants and their communities in member cities and states.
“The excitement we have seen in Buffalo is contagious and we are excited to officially get Irish Network Buffalo off the ground,” said Steve Lenox, Co-President of Irish Network USA. “Irish Network USA was founded to help Irish, friends of Ireland, and Irish American professionals across the United States connect with peers and to develop relationships to foster success in business, economic, and social ventures. We are excited to now have Buffalo a part of this ever expanding network.”
Irish Network USA is the national umbrella organizations integrating the Irish networks that exist in various cities across the United States. Irish Network Buffalo is the 18th chapter to be launched, with a 19th expected this October in Houston. Currently, Irish Network chapters can be found in Seattle, Bay Area (California), San Diego, Nevada, Phoenix, Colorado, Austin, New Orleans, Chicago, Minnesota, Cleveland, Washington DC, Delaware, Philadelphia, New Jersey, New York City, Delaware and Boston.
Irish Network USA is launching its 18th chapter on June 4, 2014, with an event for Irish Network Buffalo onboard the U.S.S. Little Rock at One Naval Park Cove.
The launch will begin at 5:30 and tickets will cost $50.
Posted by Stephen Smith (@StephenJPSmith) of Irish Central.
by Deirdre Woodbyrne | Apr 30, 2014 | In The News, New Orleans, Press Releases, Uncategorized
Two Local High School Students to Attend University College Dublin High School Summer Program
New Orleans, LA– Irish Network New Orleans (IN-NOLA), a chapter of Irish Network USA (INUSA), announced recently that local high school students Helene Lovette and Holly Smith were this year’s winners of IN-NOLA’s annual scholarship contest. Selected from more than 20 applicants, Helene and and Holly will now have the opportunity to attend University College Dublin’s (UCD) High School Summer Program free of charge. Funds for the scholarship were raised by IN-NOLA members through membership funds and various events held throughout the year. The scholarship includes full tuition, travel and accommodation.
“We are so proud to be able to offer these two outstanding young students an opportunity to travel to and study in Ireland as part of this exclusive program this summer,” stated Adrian D’Arcy, President, Irish Network New Orleans. “Since launching Irish Network New Orleans in 2011 it has been our mission to strengthen the connections between the City we have chosen to live in and raise families with the place that we all will always call ‘home’. We believe in using the power of education to help accomplish this and are grateful to all who participated in its success.”
Dr. Laura Kelley, Chair of the Scholarship Committee, commended all of the students that participated in this year’s contest and noted that “the ability of Helene and Holly to so eloquently connect the events surrounding the Irish Famine and the much more recent and local disaster of Hurricane Katrina with the strength of community really moved the scholarship committee. We look forward to hearing how their experience in Dublin this summer shapes their outlook on the communities around them.”
This year’s scholarship contest was opened up to high school juniors from throughout New Orleans with applications coming from a diverse range of students. In response to the City of New Orleans being selected by the Irish Government to host the 2014 International Famine Commemoration applicants were given the theme “The Great Famine and Hurricane Katrina, How Disaster Defines Us” and asked to consider the similarities and differences between these two events, consider the survival strategies employed by these communities and to consider how these disasters defined both places. Essays had to be 500 to 1000 words in length.
“Through this contest and scholarship award made possible by an all-volunteer organization, Irish Network New Orleans is showing that they are part of the very best the Irish Diaspora has to offer,” stated Deirdre Woodbyrne, Executive Director, Irish Network USA. “As we look forward towards out first annual conference later this year, and the launch of our 18th and 19th chapters, we use what IN-NOLA has done as a guide to the sort of impact our chapters can make in their local communities as well back home.”
Irish Network USA is the national umbrella organization integrating the Irish networks that exist in various cities across the United States. Currently, Irish Network chapters can be found in Seattle, Bay Area (California), San Diego, Nevada, Phoenix, Colorado, Austin, New Orleans, Chicago, Minnesota, Cleveland, Washington DC, Delaware, Philadelphia, New Jersey, New York City, Delaware and Boston. An 18th and 19th chapter will be launched later this year in Buffalo, NY and Houston, TX.
About the winners:
Helene Lovett:
Helene attends Lusher Charter School. She loves creative writing and science and is interested in establishing cross-cultural connections with teens from different backgrounds. She makes these connections locally with through art by serving on a board of high schoolers to create arts opportunities for a diverse group of New Orleans teens, and internationally by skyping Jordanian students about cultural perspectives on climate change. She can’t wait to learn about Irish culture this summer!
Click here to read Helene’s Essay.
Holly Smith:
Holly is a junior at Metairie Park Country Day School. She runs cross country, track, and plays a little bit of soccer. Holly is the editor of the school magazine, Eh, La-Bas!, an inductee of Country Day’s first National Honor Society Chapter, and has participated in two of Country Day’s exchange programs: one to Paris, France and the other to Cape Town and Bulungula, South Africa. Over the summer Holly has worked at Mr. Fish Swim School where she teaches young children swimming. Holly’s interests include reading, movies, and hanging out with her friends.
Click here to read Holly’s Essay.
Click here to learn more about UCD’s program.
Contact:
Adrian D’Arcy
(504) 701-8466
Deirdre Woodbyrne
(201) 669-0720
by Deirdre Woodbyrne | Mar 26, 2014 | All Chapters, Event Information, In The News, Networking, New Orleans, News
http://www.irishnetworkneworleans.org/Default.aspx?pageId=1065837&eventId=856866&EventViewMode=EventDetails
New Orleans has been selected by the Irish Government to host the 2014 International Irish Famine Commemoration (IFC) which will honor New Orleans’ Irish and celebrate the triumph of Famine survivors in the face of tremendous adversity with several activities scheduled November 6th through November 9th. Previously selected cities include New York, Sydney, Liverpool and Toronto.
Activities during the four day event will have a distinctly New Orleans flavor as the city’s Irish and Irish American community rally for this historic remembrance. The IN-NOLA Black-Tie Gala is one of the weekend’s highlights.
Illustrating the importance of the Gala, many Irish dignitaries are expected to attend including Culture Minister Jimmy Deenihan, the Irish Ambassador to the United States, H.E. Anne Anderson, and, it is hoped, the Irish President, Michael D. Higgins.
For this special occasion IN-NOLA has secured the great (and aptly named) Celtic rock band, Black 47. Led by Irish author, and playwright, Larry Kirwan, Black 47 play a uniquely Irish form of rock ‘n’ roll that touches on many social and political issues, and yet is never less than entertaining and riveting
Tara O’Grady and her Black Velvet Band will also provide musical entertainment. Tara O’Grady is the full package, combining celtic, folk, blues, and especially jazz in her unique style. Of course, as always, the IN-NOLA gala will feature traditional Irish music and dance presented by local groups.
Currently registration for the Gala is open for IN-NOLA members and members from our sister IN-USA chapters at a discounted price until May 1st. After May 1st, Gala ticket prices will increase by $50 per ticket. These tickets will be available to both the general public and to IN-NOLA members.
The code is: IFCGALA
For more information on the event and to purchase tickets, please go to;
http://www.irishnetworkneworleans.org/Default.aspxpageId=1065837&eventId=856866&EventViewMode=EventDetails
by Deirdre Woodbyrne | Mar 22, 2014 | Event Information, In The News, News, Seattle
03/20/2014
Submitted by Taryn Kama
Tacoma’s Museum of Glass will host a Céili Mór (a large Irish Dance Party) in its grand hall to celebrate Irish culture and also its on-going exhibition of contemporary Irish glass on Sat. March 22 from 7 to 10 p.m.
The event will include traditional Irish music with performers: Liam Ó Maonlaí of Hothouse Flowers fame, and the Carrigaline Celtic Band. Full details can be found at here.
Céili dancing is a popular form of Irish folk dancing and this is a family event where children and adults learn and practice dancing to live music. Everyone will have an opportunity to get on the floor and dance without any pressure. A full bar and food service will be available. The event is open to all ages.
The Céili Mór event is part of the Irish Heritage Club of Seattle’s full slate of Irish Week festivities. However, the Irish glass exhibit, called “CAUTION! Fragile. Irish Glass: Tradition in Transition,” is in Tacoma until September 2014.
Club member and glass artist Paula Stokes was involved in this exhibition. She said it is significant because it is the first museum exhibition of contemporary Irish glass in the America.
“It marries the tradition of the past with the contemporary. It celebrates the essence of Ireland in a proud, poetic and authentic way,” Stokes said.
Irish glass artist Róisín de Buitléar helped develop the exhibition, which takes a deep look at the Irish glass industry and the impact of recent factory closures on artists, tradition and personal identity.
The collaboration with three of the best masters: Fred Curtis, Eamonn Hartley and Greg Sullivan, has resulted in an exhibition of work celebrating their skills in glass cutting and engraving. Many of the pieces in the exhibition were made at Museum of Glass and shipped to Ireland to be cut and engraved.
For centuries, the Irish have been regarded as supreme artists in crystal glass, particularly in the techniques of cutting and engraving. Apprentices, under the guidance of Master Craftsmen, began working as teenagers to learn the intricacies of the art of working with crystal and these skills have been handed down over generations.
Now, however, crystal glass manufacturing in Ireland is hanging by a thread. The famous Waterford factory, which served for decades as a symbol of Irish artistic heritage, closed in 2009 and other famous glass factories in Cavan, Galway, and Tyrone have closed, selling off equipment and putting hundreds of glassmakers out of work. Once known worldwide as the best and finest, Irish crystal glass manufacturing has faced impossible challenges partly due to economic shifts, which were beyond the control of the thousands of families intertwined in the decline of the industry.
Stokes studied in Ireland with Róisín. “Róisín was my first glassmaking teacher in Ireland. I studied art at the National College of Art in Dublin. Since I moved to Seattle in 1993 to pursue my career, we have worked together on many projects over the years to create a dialog and relationship between the glass scene in Ireland and in the Pacific Northwest.”
“Róisín’s plan to work collaboratively with Master Cutters with sensitivity, and vision resonated profoundly with me,” Stokes said.
Stokes helped her in the hotshop and, on occasion, she schlepped glass back to Ireland in her suitcase. Stokes then got together with some amazing Irish women in Seattle to help fundraise for the exhibition.
Stokes said people should see the exhibit because: “It is simply wonderful on so many levels. It celebrates contemporary Irish culture through music, art, history and storytelling. The work is poetic and resonates with authenticity and is uniquely Irish.”
A full listing of Irish Week events can be found at http://irishweek.com.
by Deirdre Woodbyrne | Mar 22, 2014 | Boston, In The News
Sean Moynihan takes on new role as president of Irish Network Boston
By Staff writer
New President of IN Boston, Sean Moynihan with Ireland’s Taoiseach Enda Kenny during his last visit to Boston in 2013
To say that Sean Moynihan is excited about his new role as President of Irish Network Boston (IN Boston) would be an understatement. Moynihan, a corporate and government affairs attorney in Boston, was elected President of the IN board of directors in January. A founding board member, he has served on the executive committee since its launch in 2010. We caught up with him recently and his excitement was palpable.
“I love this organization”, he said. “We work very hard to offer our members the opportunity to interact personally and virtually through events, programming, information sharing, and an active on-line presence. Our charge is an important one as we also aim to inform and promote the great work of the other Irish and Irish American organizations in the Boston and Massachusetts area”.
He credits the success of the organization to an extremely talented and committed board of directors, all of whom are volunteers, and an active and savvy membership base that is the “life blood” of the organization. “An organization like IN is only as strong as its members and our members are incredible. They come from all different walks of life and backgrounds – Irish born, Irish Americans and folks who simply have a great affinity for Ireland. We do our best to offer events and programming that cut across the spectrum of their interests – cultural, business, educational, one on one networking, etc.”
He has an ambitious agenda for the coming year that involves a complete overhaul and re-launch of the organization’s website, several speaker series involving discussions about the Irish economy, the situation in Northern Ireland, and the local economic and political climate as well as the group’s annual Summer networking series. He hinted at another major event that he thinks will generate a great deal of interest and support but refused to get into details.
Moynihan serves as Secretary of Irish Network USA (IN USA) which is the national organization overseeing some 17 chapters in cities throughout the US, Boston being one of them. This past November he was in Washington, DC for a national board meeting and the group was hosted by Irish Ambassador to the United States Anne Anderson. “She is an extremely bright and talented lady. We are fortunate to have such a competent and effective team from the Irish government here in America.” He specifically pointed out the hard work done by Boston’s former Consul General Michael Lonergan in launching IN Boston and current Consul General Breandán Ó Caollaí who has been “nothing but supportive since he arrived here in August.”
Moynihan himself is no stranger to supporting links between Ireland and the US. A dual citizen, he has family in Inagh, County Clare, Adare in Limerick and Barraduff in Kerry. His firm – The Moynihan Group, LLC – has ”been blessed” with a variety of American and Irish clients seeking to establish a presence in each country. He serves on the board of the Boston Irish Business Association (BIBA), the Irish International Immigration Center’s (IIIC) Intern Advisory Board, and is a past trustee of the Irish Pastoral Center.
When the subject of St. Patrick’s Day came up, he offered this observation. “There was always a real sense of pride in being ‘Irish’ in my family. It was far from just celebrating St Patrick’s Day. More so, it was being mindful of who we were as Irish Americans – a genuine respect and appreciation for the history of the family and the challenges they faced both at home in Ireland and then as immigrants in Massachusetts,” he said.
He joked, “Some may think my interest in Ireland is over the top, but it’s who I am”. Far from naïve, he immediately pointed out how his grandmother would now and again keep him in check and remind him that, despite his affinity for Ireland, he was an American. “She would just grin and look at me and say ‘Ah Sean you love Ireland, but you’ll always be a Yank’”
– See more at: http://www.irishemigrant.com/ie/go.asp?p=story&storyID=18704#sthash.jK0DNfLd.dpuf
